Sierra

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Biographical Information

"Sierra (56) Food-grower, Manager, Biospherian For the past 20 years Sally (Sierra) Silverstone has been actively engaged in agricultural, environmental and closed-system research and development projects, with a particular interest in the area of food and agriculture systems for closed ecological systems. Currently she is a Director and Chief Financial Officer for the Biosphere Foundation, the non-profit foundation that is acting as the fiscal sponsor for Beyond Boundaries. She is also a co-steward of Three Creeks, a small desert oasis where she will serve as part of the base camp for the year-long journey, the place it will begin and close in community.

"Sierra was for 11 years the Project Director for Las Casas de la Selva, a 1,200 acre rainforest enrichment demonstration project in Puerto Rico, and the President of Tropic Ventures Education and Research Foundation, a Puerto Rican non-profit corporation that supports the educational and research effort at Las Casas.

"After graduating with honours from Sheffield Hallam University in England, Sierra traveled widely, including working in the field in East Africa and then to India where she spent several years working on food and agricultural projects with local populations. From 1987 - 1991 she was responsible for the management and coordination of the architectural division operations, financial administration and cost control for Space Biospheres Ventures, the company that built and operated Biosphere 2. In 1991 she joined the first team of eight researchers as Co-Captain and Food Systems Manager for the historic two-year Biosphere 2 experiment. During this time she was responsible for the overall management and co-ordination of the eight-person crew and for management of the half-acre agriculture system that fed the crew during the two year closed mission.

"Sierra is the author of a popular cookbook, Eating In: From the Field to the Kitchen in Biosphere 2, and a co-author of Life Under Glass a personal account of her experiences inside Biosphere 2. She has published numerous papers on the agricultural systems of Biosphere 2 and subsequent experiments carried out with the Biosphere Foundation in their Laboratory Biosphere facility. She has made many conference presentations including the 2nd Annual meeting of the Mars Society and the 4th International Meeting on Closed Ecological Systems at the Linnean Society of London."

Affiliations

• Supporter, Beyond Boundaries